5 Reasons Why Your Christmas Decor Doesn’t Look Quite Right

If you’re finding that your Christmas decor doesn’t look quite right to you for some reason, and you struggle to figure out what you’re doing wrong year after year, the solution might be much simpler than you realize!

Do you ever feel like for some reason that you can’t quite put your finger on, your Christmas decor doesn’t look quite right? If you find yourself feeling more frustrated than jolly when it’s time to pull out the Christmas decorations, you might be making one of these common decorating mistakes. Solving these little problems may just completely change how you feel about your home this Christmas season!

Some people can just wing it and walk around the house dusting a little glitter here and putting a little greenery there in a way that’s just so, but most of us can’t. Sometimes all it takes is a simple plan, which can be as easy as “all red and white things” or “woodland things” for a particular room, to get us moving in the right direction. The saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” is almost always true when it comes to big, and honestly, kind of overwhelming tasks like this.

Reason number 2: You don’t clean up first

You think it won’t really matter, but it will. You will see the dust and the clutter even with all the sparkly pretty things to distract you and they can pretty much ruin a perfectly good room. Sometimes you may have been staring at the same mess for so long that you don’t even notice it’s there anymore and yet, there’s something that’s bugging you and you can’t quite tell what it is. Take a few minutes to really give yourself a clean, blank slate in your room before you start bringing in the decor and you’ll really notice a big difference.

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Reason number 3: You try to do too much

I know. It’s so hard. You see so many impressive and clever ideas all over the place and you want to copy them all! But you can’t. You just can’t. Even if you live in a mega mansion with lots of extra rooms and wall space and flat surfaces to hold decorations, there’s just no way that you can give each and every decoration that you want to do the time and care that they need to really look their best. These things require thought and time to stand back and make sure everything is juuuuust right. Not to mention time to admire your handy work. Give yourself a break and just do a few things, but do them really really well.

Reason number 4: You lack discipline

I know you still have your favorite blue and orange snowman pillow from 1985 that you put out every year. And that’s great, really it is. But if you just can’t resist putting out every single decoration that you’ve ever met and loved, then things are going to start to look cluttered. There have been so many different styles, colors, and trends in Christmas decor over the years and if you put out every single decoration in that Christmas bin all together, it’s going to be a hot mess. A little restraint and a little stick-to-it-iveness when it comes to your plan will go a long way.

Reason number 5: You’re over-thinking it

If you’re reading this post at all, chances are it’s you. And it’s me too, so don’t feel bad. Your decorations don’t have to be fun or edgy or clever just because everyone else’s are. Of course you love those decorations you see in pictures, but if that’s not where your family’s at right now, you’ll be so much more successful in your decor attempts if you just stick to simple things this year. You can still enjoy the clever decor in pictures while you sip your hot cocoa by the fire. Or the fake fireplace youtube video. Whatever works for you!

Just remember that if you’re the one putting out the decorations in your house, then you’re probably the one who cares the most, so do something that you can really enjoy all season long. Follow my tips above and start a new tradition of really loving your home this Christmas season!

If your Christmas decor doesn’t look quite right, try these few simple steps first before you do anything drastic like buying all new decor. Happy decorating!

This is exactly me! We have very limited options here so I’ve tried making things work but it never does. I don’t plan things out either! Now I wanna snoop around the rest of your site to see what other problems you can solve for me. 🙂

One thing that I have done is to separate my decorations into bins for the tree. One bin contains ornaments for a gold themed tree and one bin contains ornaments for a silver themed tree. And then there is the bin of items that can go on the tree in either year. This process seemed to help me identify my favorite items & put aside less favorite ones till I am ready to give them away. By rotating my color scheme, everything is not out at once and overdone and the following year I’ll enjoy the rest of my favorite items.

Great article! I’ve been decorating the same home for 20+ years. I don’t use any of the small trinkets anymore. I do less, but use things that make a bigger impact. You’ re right styles and tastes change over the years and it’s OK to let things go!

Reason #6: Your grandmother knows you love Christmas but doesn’t know style so constantly gifts you ugly, tacky bright red and green cutesy nonsense like stuffed Santas that sing, and you have to put them out every year. Lmao!! Would the nice way of saying that be “#6: Your decorations lack stylish cohesion”? I should be a political spin writer. Anyway, great post. I agree as usual!

Wow. I bet your grandmother doesn’t know WHAT you like. Maybe she hasn’t had a real conversation with you in a long while. BUT, OBVIOUSLY SHE WANTS TO FIND SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE. And, I bet every time she has given you one, you lied and said you loved it! So she is going to repeat that one thing she knows made you say something nice to her….let alone an actual conversation. Grateful much?
If getting something stylish is the most important thing to you, take her shopping and ask her first what SHE likes. Then keep asking her what else she likes, follow up with what she especially likes about it and if you like it too then say so. Make it more about her and add in a tiny bit your opinion. Then shut up and be glad she cares enough to get you something. OR, I could be totally wrong. maybe you have impressed her as impossible to please!!! Maybe she deliberately get those for you.

I made the decision to not decorate the inside at all this year. I did decorate the outside. Best thing I have ever not done! I’ve been so relaxed. The family will be here for dinner and I will use my Christmas china. Festive enough. I have been able to clean and enjoy baking cookies. I am loving it.

I have a box of Christmas/winter decorations that comes out early and stays up longer. (Snowmen, snow covered buildings, wreaths, candles, etc) Our tree goes up a little later and comes down right after New Years, but the other things stay out. Since I have to move furniture around to accommodate our tree, I always feel there is so much clutter about. Once the tree is gone, I still have many festive decorations about without feeling disorganized.

That’s a great way of organizing things, Brooke! That totally makes sense too, since a lot of Christmas stuff is really just Winter themed. I know for us Winter doesn’t really even get underway until January, so leaving things up to celebrate that is just fine!

Hi Courtenay. I really like your blog. I just looked at my photos from last Christmas to see what I want to do to improve my holiday decor this year. I came to this same conclusion as this article. The funny thing is, it was the first pin when I went to pinterest! You are right. There are just a few elements that are inconsistent. I must choose roses or poinsettias Ughhhh. ..☺

I always have a hard time choosing between decorating styles as well! I often will stick to one style for one room and then do something different in another so I still get to enjoy all of my favorites without everything being a jumbled mess. Good luck with your decorating this year!

Hi Courtenay. I agree with you about not being able to use all the terrific ideas on pinterest in your home. What I have come to realize is my pins are source of pleasure in of them selves. I treat my saved pins as my own favourite magazine. There are the interesting articles too. I never get tired of going over them time and time again. I guess that Pinterest is the modern day scrapbooking. I plan to further organize my pins. It’s kinda like editing a magazine. Your readers could use as any pins as they like and decorate different boards in whatever or as many styles as their hearts desire. Happy holidays everyone.

If something is still usable but no longer suits, I donate it to my favorite thrift store. I take pity on the volunteers and wait until March or April. They cringe when someone staggers in with an armload of glitter and greenery on January 3rd.